The concept of the Great Silk Road: modern aspects of the development of interregional trade and ensuring regional economic security

The article explores the evolution of the concept of the Great Silk Road (GSR) as a system of interregional economic relations in Eurasia – from the formation of caravan trade in the 2nd century BC to its decline in the early 17th century and the subsequent revival of the idea in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in the form of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. The subject of the research is the institutional-economic mechanisms that ensured the sustainability of interregional trade along the GSR routes and the activities of their modern counterparts in the context of their influence on the development of trade and the state of regional economic security in Eurasia. To this end, the article systematizes the areas of GSR research, identifies stages of its functioning, and determines the factors of its flourishing and decline; it reveals the influence of the GSR on the formation of international trade institutions; it provides an analysis of the current architecture of Eurasian transport routes based on statistics from 2024-2026; and it proposes a system of indicators for transport routes as a component of regional economic security. The methodological basis of the research comprises historical-genetic methods (for reconstructing the stages of GSR development) and comparative-institutional methods (for comparing historical and modern trade mechanisms), as well as structural-functional analysis of transport routes and statistical analysis of data from the customs services of the PRC, relevant agencies, and analytical centers. It is shown that the GSR stimulated international division of labor, the formation of specialized professions and services, transit infrastructure, cashless payment systems, customs regulation, and trade rules, while the stages of its flourishing and decline were primarily determined by political factors. An authorial typology of historical GSR institutions in relation to modern trade policy tools and a system of indicators for evaluating trade implementation through transport corridors as a component of regional economic security is proposed. The example of Russian-Chinese trade demonstrates that the growth of trade turnover is accompanied by a high concentration of export goods and low mutual investment activity. The conclusion is drawn that in the context of the fragmentation of the global economy and the crisis of maritime routes in 2026, the concept of the GSR transforms into a multipolar network of competing corridors (routes), and for Russia, the key task becomes not only participation in transit but also the integration of regions into value-added production chains.